Police officials in Istanbul and Antalya, where the arrests were reported to have taken place, could not immediately confirm the report.

Since Friday, more than 5,000 Israelis on five cruise ships have been turned away from Turkish ports due to intelligence that an al-Qaida-linked attack was imminent, and the Israeli government has warned its citizens not to travel to a defined strip of coastline along the Turkish Mediterranean.

CNN-Turk reported that one of the men was of Syrian origin and was arrested in Antalya, a popular Mediterranean resort town. He was reportedly behind the manufacture of explosives for the 2003 bombings of two synagogues, the British Consulate and a British bank, and was brought to Istanbul for questioning.

The other men were said to be studying synagogues and cruise ship schedules in Turkey in preparation for an attack, the AP said.